Mayor Johnson's new chief of staff and planning deputy had his fellow Tories brimming with glee when scrutinsed for the first time by the London Assembly this morning. Edward Lister's reputation during his 19 years as leader of Wandsworth Council was for cruel spending cuts and covert demographic engineering or for exemplary management of local government resources, depending on how you define the term "Thatcherite".

His admirers prefer the second option. Kit Malthouse, a fan from across the river in Westminster, brought him to blushing point with an intimate inquiry about his high (Labour) government league table ratings and record low council tax levels. Lister's modest acknowledgement of these items on his cv intensified the drone of gentleman's club "hear hear"s from the blue parts of the City Hall horseshoe. These had begun when Roger Evans (Conservative) had urged Lister to press Boris to ensure a fourth consecutive council tax precept freeze next year and "even a reduction."

"You're well aware," Lister replied, frugally, "that if he can achieve it, he certainly will."

Dare he disappoint after such a tease? The Tories would be thrilled to bits, though the move would be primarily symbolic. The Mayor's fiscal cryogenics have saved most Londoners piddling sums when compared with the hikes in bus and Tube fares they've endured. It will be interesting to see how Boris handles those come the autumn.

Asked by Labour's John Biggs if he intended dragging our occasional friend Red Boris back to the true "Thatcherite" way, Lister replied that be believes in "value for money, and driving that through." In times of tight budgets, "We've got to prioritise, we've got to keep an eye on the money."

But did lower local taxes mean more local charges for individual services? As in, say, a public park in Wandsworth? "I think low tax is important," Lister said, "particularly for those people on fixed incomes who have no choice in the matter. Charges, by and large, are for things people have a choice about." He added, by way of qualification: "I also recognise that people have to get to work, have to live and all those other things."

"So you would tend to oppose the Mayor's fares policies?" Biggs asked, innocently.

"The Mayor has no real choice about fares policy," Lister replied, "if he is going to support the kind of infrastructure we have in London and want to develop in London. He's going to have to raise the money for it because it isn't coming from anywhere else." No real choice? Perhaps the budget and performance committee will put that line to the test when it has a TfL contingent before it tomorrow.

Lister will also have pleased his own side with his assertion that, "What is right for one corner of London and what is right for another is very different, and I think we should as far as possible run with the grain of the local authority on this and support the local authority on what they believe to be right for their area."

The remark crystalises how one politician's localism can be another's nimbyism. Both Nicky Gavron (Labour) and Mike Tuffrey (Lib Dem) drew attention to Wandsworth's recent record on delivering "affordable" housing. There are two types: homes for social rent, which most Londoners can afford, and "intermediate" products which large numbers cannot. Between 2007/08 and 2009/10 only 11 percent of Wandsworth's "affordable" supply has been for social rent, compared with a London average of 50 per cent (see page 94).

Lister insisted that he is "passionate" about social rented homes being a part of "mixed communities" - a more desirable kind than "rich enclaves". But looked at with a jaundiced eye, doing "what's right" for Wandsworth has been more about making the borough a magnet for the chattering classes than helping London as a whole cope with its housing crisis.

His successor as the borough's leader intends to allocate council dwellings to households in work, in order to facilitate aspiration and a more virtuous social blend. The rest will be accommodated by the private sector until, presumably, the benefit cuts bite when they'll be packing their bags for Nowhereshire.

Lister said that despite Wandsworth's low social housing score, he supported "absolutely" the Mayor's target of 60 percent of affordable homes across the capital being for social rent, but that as "pragmatic people" he and his new boss had to be mindful of what was possible. That was either commendable frankness about practicalities or a veil for indifference to Londoners in greatest need - "Thatcherite", perhaps, however interpreted.